A better immunological definition of coeliac disease and highly discriminatory serum markers are needed to identify children with early mucosal lesions and for rapid follow-up and a better knowledge of antigen reactivity and cytokine production will be needed to clarify the pathogenic mechanisms.The numbers of circulating IgAanti-gliadin antibody-producing (IgAAGA SFC) cells were increased in patients with untreated coeliac disease compared to controls and treated coeliac disease patients. In children with coeliac disease the numbers of IgAAGA SFC increased rapidly after gluten challenge. The levels of IgA specific for human as well as guinea-pig tissue transglutaminase (tTG) were increased in the untreated coeliac diseasechildren compared to the control groups. A human erythrocyte tTG ELISAassay had the highest sensitivity (100%) and a specificity of 98%.The numbers of IFN-γ producing cells in the peripheral blood was increased in children with untreated celiac disease as compared to healthy controls. The IL-4 production correlated with the serum levels of total IgE. The numbers of IFN-γ producing cells increased after gluten challenge, whereas no such change was evident for IL-4 or IL-10 producing cells. Children with coeliac disease had more mononuclear cells expressing TGF-β1, TNF-αand IFN-γ in the lamina propria as compared to disease controls. TGFβ3 and IL-4 expressing cells were present in the lamina propria as well as in the epithelial layer in children with coeliac disease.In conclusion, our results indicate that: (1) the ELISPOT assay or other methods for detection of antibody production may be helpful in assessing the optimal timing of the biopsy to shorten the duration of gluten challenge, (2) anti-tTG IgA antibodies can be used as a sensitive and specific complement to existing serological tests for coeliac disease, (3) circulating mononuclear cells in children with active coeliac disease secrete cytokines compatible with a type 1 response, (4) mononuclear cells in the gut of children with activecoeliac disease produce type 1 cytokines as well asTGF-β and IL-4.


Bacteriophytochromes constitute a light-sensing subgroup of sensory kinases with a chromophore-binding motif in the N-terminal half and a C-terminally located histidine kinase activity. The cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon (also designated Calothrix sp.) expresses two sequentially very similar bacteriophytochromes, cyanobacterial phytochrome A (CphA) and cyanobacterial phytochrome B (CphB). Cyanobacterial phytochrome A has the canonical cysteine residue, by which covalent chromophore attachment is accomplished in the same manner as in plant phytochromes; however, its paralog cyanobacterial phytochrome B carries a leucine residue at that position. On the basis of in vitro experiments that showed, for both cyanobacterial phytochrome A and cyanobacterial phytochrome B, light-induced autophosphorylation and phosphate transfer to their cognate response regulator proteins RcpA and RcpB [Hübschmann T, Jorissen HJMM, Börner T, Gärtner W & deMarsac NT (2001) Eur J Biochem268, 3383-3389], we aimed at the identification of a chromophore that is incorporated in vivo into cyanobacterial phytochrome B within the cyanobacterial cell. The approach was based on the introduction of a copy of cphB into the cyanobacterium via triparental conjugation. The His-tagged purified, recombinant protein (CphBcy) showed photoreversible absorption bands similar to those of plant and bacterial phytochromes, but with remarkably red-shifted maxima [lambda(max) 700 and 748 nm, red-absorbing (P(r)) and far red-absorbing (P(fr)) forms of phytochrome, respectively]. A comparison of the absorption maxima with those of the heterologously generated apoprotein, assembled with phycocyanobilin (lambda(max) 686 and 734 nm) or with biliverdin IXalpha (lambda(max) 700 and 750 +/- 2 nm), shows biliverdin IXalpha to be a genuine chromophore. The kinase activity of CphBcy and phosphotransfer to its cognate response regulator was found to be strictly P(r)-dependent. As an N-terminally located cysteine was found as an alternative covalent binding site for several bacteriophytochrome photoreceptors that bind biliverdin and lack the canonical cysteine residue (e.g. Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Deinococcus radiodurans), this corresponding residue in heterologously expressed cyanobacterial phytochrome B was mutated into a serine (C24S); however, there was no change in its spectral properties. On the other hand, the mutation of His267, which is located directly after the canonical cysteine, into alanine (H267A), caused complete loss of the capability of cyanobacterial phytochrome B to form a chromoprotein.


I show that Arabidopsis leaf growth can be described with good precision by a conformal map, where expansion is locally isotropic (the same in all directions) but the amount of expansion can vary with position. Data obtained by tracking leaf growth over time can be reproduced with almost 90% accuracy by such a map. The growth follows a Moebius transformation, which is a type of conformal map that would arise if there were an underlying linear gradient of growth rate. From the data one can derive the parameters that describe this linear gradient and show how it changes over time. Growth according to a conformal map has the property of maintaining the flatness of a leaf.


Background:
 Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and the leading cause of severe long term disability for adults in the US. Each minute of brain ischemia can lead to varying degrees of neurological compromise. The purpose of this study was to identify time wasting work flow processes during the evaluation phase for the suspected stroke patient (SSP) and to minimize or eliminate them. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) time targets were used as the benchmark for this research.

 Methods:
 An audit of 98 emergency department patient records revealed variation and inconsistency in meeting expected time targets that included door to: physician evaluation, stroke alert call, CT completion, CT interpretation, all lab and diagnostic completion. Lean Six Sigma methodologies were used and a two day Kaizen Event was held with an interprofessional process improvement team empowered to identify and reduce wastes, synchronize work flow processes, manage variability, devise communication and sustainability plans. A quasi-experimental pretest posttest design was used with a non-probability, structured method of sampling to select all pre- and post-intervention SSPs presenting to the emergency department for symptom evaluation (
 N
 = 222).

 Results:
 Results indicated that time was saved and variation decreased in all areas during the last 3 weeks of the study. The post-intervention work flow redesign group was faster than the baseline group at evaluating the SSP across all time targets,
 F
 (5, 642) = 2.98,
 p
 = .01 and two were significantly faster: lab completion (
 M
 pre
 = 48.10,
 SD
 = 20.70;
 M
 post
 = 35.54,
 SD
 = 14.80) and all diagnostics completion (
 M
 pre
 = 49.74,
 SD
 = 20.26;
 M
 post
 = 37.77,
 SD
 = 13.76);
 SE
 decreased (3.38 to 2.84) indicating decreased work flow variability.

 Conclusion:
 Work flow process redesign conceived and implemented by front line care providers resulted in substantial time savings for both patients and staff. Whether patients chose to receive a thrombolytic agent as a treatment modality, each must be assured that time delays do not deny them this therapy option. Time efficient, value added activities for this patient translates into a greater chance to preserve brain tissue, function and quality of life.


2017 marks the eightieth anniversary of Giovanni Salviucci's death and also the seventieth anniversary of Alfredo Casella's demise. Although the two were only friends for a short time, their relationship was based on an enduring mutual respect. Despite his young age, Salviucci was on his way to becoming an undisputed protagonist of the musical life, something that Casella was well aware of. On more than one occasion, he used kind words and more tangible ways to express the 'strong artistic esteem and warm friendship' he felt for the young man. Casella certainly played a quite important role in ensuring that Salviucci's music if nothing else came to a more glorious end. In the months and years following the young composer's death, and at least until Casella's own demise ten years later, the illustrious mentor made sure that Salviucci's works continued to be performed in Italy and abroad.


This paper presents a parallel implementation of a CBIR system which has been designed for several multiprocessor architectures. The paradigm that best fits the problem's needs is a farm based solution: a master process distributes the work load among the slave processes, and when they have finished, the master collects the partial results computed on each slave process. The multiprocessors used in the tests are a shared memory machine with eight processors - a Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 - and a cluster with 16 PC. In order to evaluate both architectures, the experimental results have been collected under several configurations, considering dynamic load balancing for the cluster based implementation. This paper analyzes the performance achieved by the different setups from the viewpoints of speed, price and scalability, presenting the conclusions that can be extracted from the results' comparison.


Flotation feed density is an operating parameter which is currently not well understood. Most models of flotation only incorporate its effect on particle residence time, but it is likely to have additional effects within both the pulp and froth phases of the machine. Test work was performed in Metso's 3 m3 RCS test rig to investigate the effect of flotation feed density on metallurgical performance. The rig was operated at Rio Tinto's Northparkes operation using flotation feed and scavenger tail. For each feed, tests were performed at different feed densities, and measurements were performed to estimate the pulp and froth recovery as well as other key flotation parameters (eg bubble size, turbulence and froth stability).

Results of this test work have shown that the pulp density does affect key parameters of the flotation process in both the pulp and froth phases. Pulp phase kinetic rates decrease at high density and this is attributed to a reduction in the turbulence within the cell. Froth phase recovery, however, improves presumably because of a stabilising effect due to a greater loading of solids on bubble surfaces.

There is a need for more research to be done to better understand these interactions so that metallurgists can determine the optimum flotation feed density to use at a particular operation, or within a section of a flotation circuit.


Diabetes and its complications have a significant economic impact on individualsand their families, health systems and national economies.Methods:The direct health expenditure of diabetes was calculated relying on the followinginputs: diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes prevalence estimates, United Nations popula-tion estimates, World Health Organization health expenditure per capita and ratios ofhealth expenditure for people with diabetes compared to people without diabetes.Results:The estimated global direct health expenditure on diabetes in 2019 is USD 760 bil-lion and is expected to grow to a projected USD 825 billion by 2030 and USD 845 billion by2045. There is a wide variation in annual health expenditures on diabetes. The UnitedStates of America has the highest estimated expenditure with USD 294.6 billion, followedby China and Brazil, with USD 109.0 billion and USD 52.3 billion, respectively. The age groupwith the largest annual diabetes-related health expenditure is 60–69 years with USD 177.7billion, followed by 50–59 years, and 70–79 years with USD 173.0 billion and USD 171.5 bil-lion, respectively. Slightly higher diabetes-related health expenditure is seen in womenthan in men (USD 382.6 billion vs. USD 377.6 billion, respectively). The same difference isexpected to be present in 2030 and 2045. The significant economic impact of diabetes and, particu-larly, both its acute and long-term complications on healthexpenditures are well known, from early estimates reportedfrom pan-European studies[5]to, for example, the most recentassessment for the United States of America[6]. In this assess-ment, the costs of hospital admissions for these complicationsis the over-riding influence. Since many of these complicationscan beprevented, orat leastlessened in impactordelayed, theireconomic impact can potentially be significantly reduced andresources diverted to preventive measures or to other healthpriorities. The importance of addressing socio-economic disad-vantage in the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus hasrecently been highlighted by Spencer Bonillaet al[7].As examples, the costs of treating a single case of diabeticketoacidosis (DKA) in the United Kingdom is estimated to beGBP 1,387 (around USD 1,750)[8]. In the United States ofAmerica, diabetes-related Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)increases mean annual healthcare expenditures by 49%among people with diabetes and clinical nephropathy thanamong those with no nephropathy and, for people with dia-betes undergoing dialysis, the mean annual figure increased2.8 times compared with end-stage renal disease (ESRD)patients not on dialysis[9]. Neurological and / or vasculardamage to the lower limb resulting in the ''diabetic foot"havebeen described as the most costly of diabetes-specific compli-cations. Compared to people with diabetes without footulcers, health expenditures for people with diabetes and footulcers is 5.4 times higher in the year of the first episode and2.6 times higher in the year of the second episode and com-pared to people without diabetes[10]. Furthermore, the costof care for people with diabetes and coronary heart diseaseor congestive heart failure is higher[11]

The aims of this paper, therefore, are (1) to draw attentionto these recent IDF global estimates and projections of thedirect costs of diabetes care in adults 20–79 years; (2) to pro-vide details of the methods used in the formulation of theseestimates and projections so that, with critical discussion,their precision can be improved and (3) to compare theseresults with others which have used different approaches.

The methods used in estimating diabetes-related healthexpenditures has remained basically consistent, with someminor modifications since their description in detail in thethird edition of the IDF Diabetes Atlas[3]. The focus of thispaper is on direct medical costs attributable to diabetes,which  represent  the  opportunity  costs  of  health  careresources used for treating diabetes, diabetes-related compli-cations, and comorbidity. Direct medical costs include hospi-tal  inpatient  care,  physician  inpatient  care,  physicianoutpatient care, emergency department visits, nursing homecare, hospice care, rehabilitation care, specialists' and otherhealth professionals' care, diagnostic tests, prescription drugsand medical supplies.Additional elements in economic studies of diabetes mayalso address direct non-medical costs (costs incurred bypatients and their families that are directly associated withdiabetes but are not medical in nature, such as transportationcosts, relocation expenses and informal care) and productiv-ity losses and intangible costs which refer to patients' psy-chological pain, discomfort, anxiety and distress related todiabetes. Although important, these are not addressed here.
3.1.   Global estimates and projections to 2030 and 2045and temporal trends since 2006In 2019, total, world-wide diabetes-related health expenditurewas  estimated  to  be  USD  760  billion  in  adults  aged20–79 years, with the majority of the spending among thoseaged 50–79 years (68.7% of that for all ages). The health expen-diture is expected to grow to a projected USD 825 billion peryear by 2030 and USD 845 billion by 2045 (Fig. 1).Despite the fact that some modifications have been madeto the methods used for these 2019 estimates (see Discussionbelow), they are in line with previous IDF Diabetes Atlas esti-mates made in similar, though not identical ways (Fig. 2). Theincrease of the 2019 estimate over that of 2017 equates to4.5%.The age group with the largest annual diabetes-relatedhealth expenditure in 2019 was 60–69 years with USD 177.7billion, followed by 50–59 and 70–79 years with USD 173.0 bil-lion and USD 171.5 billion, respectively. By 2030 diabetes-related health expenditure (for those aged 70–79 years) willexceed that in all age groups and, by 2045, is expected totop USD 250 billion in this age group alone (Fig. 3).In 2019, slightly higher diabetes-related health expendi-tures are seen in women than in men (USD 382.6 billion vs.USD 377.6 billion, respectively). The same difference is pre-sent in 2030 and 2045 (Fig. 4).3.2.   Regional and country estimatesDiabetes-related health expenditures in 2019 in the IDFRegions of North America and Caribbean (NAC), Western Paci-fic (WP), and Europe (EUR) together account for 85.2% of theglobal total. The NAC Region has the highest of all IDF Regions(USD 324.5 billion (20–79 years)), which corresponds to 42.7%of the global total. The second highest is the WP Region withUSD 162.2 billion, followed by the EUR Region (USD 161.4 bil-lion), which correspond to 21.3% and 21.2%, respectively, ofthe total global spending.


This study examines innovativeness and self-construal as antecedents to selfreported and sociometric opinion leadership, both of which may affect new product adoption. In addition, innovativeness is proposed to be associated with new product adoption. First, this thesis shows that self-reported and sociometric measures of opinion leadership tap into different constructs. This current thesis proposes that sociometric measures reflect opinion leadership better. In addition, sociometric opinion leaders are true experts (Iyengar et al. 2011). Second, this study examines the relationships among innovativeness, self-construal, opinion leadership and new product adoption in order to clarify the relationships among these concepts. Thus, this study provides a unique framework to explain how opinion leaders should be identified.


Enabling thin regions in aircraft wings with active control surface functionality is challenging in terms of the integration of high-power actuation systems in regions with small available volumes. This paper details the design of a winglet trailing edge surface composed of miniature fluid-actuated morphing unit structures (FAMoUS) that can potentially enable control surface deflections under the corresponding aerodynamic hinge moments. These FAMoUS actuators consist of a hybrid elastomer and metallic extensible hollow units into which incompressible fluids can be pumped thereby creating displacement and force and thus output work. Position control can be achieved in combination with the appropriate pump systems and shape-feedback sensors. This paper outlines the design, finite element analyses and manufacturing process of a demonstrator currently being fabricated for subsequent testing. These finite element analyses consist of detailed tuned material parameters obtained from testing on the individual unit structure tests as well as the inclusion of hydrostatic fluid elements to determine effective stiffnesses from the pressure-volume relationship between the housing structure and internal fluid. Manufacturing of the demonstrator is to be conducted using composite fabrication and machining techniques to ensure that the demanding tolerances and surface qualities are to be maintained. Outcomes of the manufacturing process and initial testing results show bimorph behavior under fluid pressure.


The paper reviews capital requirements in some developed countries and in the Czech Republic. Capital requirements in the Czech Republic was introduced in 1994. Capital ratio of the group of foreign banks permanently exceeds 13 % while the group of large and small banks has problems. There is excessive volume of credits in the Czech banking sector. Many developing countries and emerging markets decided to follow inflationary solution of bad credits, but not Czech Republic. Due to the lowering of inflation (or even deflation) in the Czech Republic bad credits have not been solved yet. It seems that they will be transferred into some state agency. The reduction of bank credits seems necessary in the near future. In this sense credit crunch can be seen as useful for long-term prosperity of the Czech economy. Capital requirements introduced by the Czech National Bank support desirable credit crunch.


Despite recent substantial advances in risk factor management and cardiac care, the incidence of myocardial infarction remains a major public health concern across the globe. Recent European registry data demonstrate the incidence of all acute myocardial infarction to be around 190/100 000 people/year, with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) representing around 40% of that number.1 In multiple clinical trials, primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been shown to be better than thrombolysis in the treatment of STEMI, and indeed the ESC, ACC and AHA all recommend primary PCI as first-line reperfusion treatment.2 3 Although primary PCI is first line of treatment for STEMI, adjuvant antithrombotic pharmacotherapy varies widely, and the optimal antithrombotic regimen is still the source of debate as head-to-head trial evidence of all the options is limited.

Recent studies have demonstrated that the use of bivalirudin, a hirudin-type drug which acts as a direct thrombin inhibitor, before and during primary PCI is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality and morbidity as compared with the use of unfractionated heparin and GpIIb/IIIa inhibitors.4 In the open-label HORIZONS-AMI trial, 3602 patients presenting with STEMI were randomised to receive either bivalirudin or unfractionated heparin with a GpIIb/IIIa inhibitor as adjunctive antithrombotic treatment. The authors prespecifed two primary end points, the incidence of major bleeding and a composite end point of the combination of major bleeding and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events, including death, reinfarction, target vessel revascularisation for ischaemia and stroke. They demonstrated a 24% RR reduction (9.2% vs 12.1%) in the composite end point in the bivalirudin group as …


Parkinson disease is a complex disease that has multiple genetic and environmental factors. To achieve the early diagnosis and to be able to modify the disease progression, efforts are being made to identify individuals at risk. About 20 year ago, an evidence of major prevalence of Parkinsonism in patients with Gaucher Disease reported by studies worldwide led to the putative involvement of the GBA gene. Nowadays, the link from a rare disease with a common disease is well known and it is confirmed that mutations in the GBA gene are the most important genetic risk factor. Apart from rare mutations, genetic association studied appointed common variants in genes well associated with familial cases as LRRK2 and SNCA may also contribute to the increased risk for sporadic cases. Other common variants in the MAPT gene were also reported. At least, genetic studies have been observed an excessive burden of relevant variants in genes with lysosomal function. Thus, a synergistic action of variants in genes that codifies proteins involved with the lysosome may be a mean of modulating the risk. In this chapter, we review the most robust genetic risk factor and the relevance of lysosomal function for Parkinson disease.


The increasing wind power penetration in power systems represents a techno-economic challenge for power producers and system operators. Because of the variability and uncertainty of wind power, system operators require new solutions to increase the controllability of wind farm output. On the other hand, producers that include wind farms in their portfolio need to find new ways to boost their profits in electricity markets. This can be done by optimizing the combination of wind farms and storage so as to make larger profits when selling power (trading) and reduce penalties from imbalances in the operation. The present work describes a new integrated approach for analysing wind-storage solutions that make use of probabilistic forecasts and optimization techniques to aid decision making on operating such systems. The approach includes a set of three complementary functions suitable for use in current systems. A real-life system is studied, comprising two wind farms and a large hydro station with pumping capacity. Economic profits and better operational features can be obtained from the proposed cooperation between the wind farms and storage. The revenues are function of the type of hydro storage used and the market characteristics, and several options are compared in this study. The results show that the use of a storage device can lead to a significant increase in revenue, up to 11% (2010 data, Iberian market). Also, the coordinated action improves the operational features of the integrated system. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


RNA works as a genome and messenger in RNA viruses, and it sends messages in most of the creatures of the Earth, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. The human innate immune system has evolved to detect single- and double-stranded RNA molecules from microbes by pattern recognition receptors and induce defense reactions against infections such as the production of type I interferons and inflammatory cytokines. To avoid cytokine toxicity causing chronic inflammation or autoimmunity by sensing self-RNA, the activation of RNA sensors is strictly regulated. All of the Toll-like receptors that recognize RNA are localized to endosomes/lysosomes, which require internalization of RNA for sensing through an endocytic pathway. RIG-I-like receptors sense RNA in cytosol. These receptors are expressed in a cell type-specific fashion, enabling sensing of RNA for a wide range of microbial invasions. At the same time, both endosomal and cytoplasmic receptors have strategies to respond only to RNA of pathogenic microorganisms or dying cells. RNA are potential vaccine adjuvants for immune enhancement against cancer and provide a benefit for vaccinations. Understanding the detailed molecular mechanisms of the RNA-sensing system will help us to broaden the clinical utility of RNA adjuvants for patients with incurable diseases.


The role of the court in early medieval polities has long been recognised as an essential force in the running of the kingdom. The court was not only an organ of central government but a sociological community with its own ideology and culture, and a place where royal power was both displayed and negotiated. The studies within this volume reflect the diversity of modern court studies, considering the court as a social body and considering its educative and ideological activities. The contributors to this volume bring together historical, archaeological, art historical and literary approaches to the topic as they consider aspects of court life in England, Francia, Rome and Byzantium from the eighth to the tenth centuries. The volume therefore looks at court life in the round, emphasizes and invites connections between early medieval courts, and opens new perspectives for the understanding of early medieval courts.


Cloud computing is becoming an increasingly lucrative branch of the existing information and communication technologies (ICT). Enabling a debate about cloud usage scenarios can help with attracting new customers, sharing best-practices, and designing new cloud services. In contrast to previous approaches, which have attempted mainly to formalize the common service delivery models (i.e., Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, and Software-as-a-Service), in this work, we propose a formalism for describing common cloud usage scenarios referred to as cloud usage patterns. Our formalism takes a structuralist approach allowing decomposition of a cloud usage scenario into elements corresponding to the common cloud service delivery models. Furthermore, our formalism considers several cloud usage patterns that have recently emerged, such as hybrid services and value chains in which mediators are involved, also referred to as value chains with mediators. We propose a simple yet expressive textual and visual language for our formalism, and we show how it can be used in practice for describing a variety of real-world cloud usage scenarios. The scenarios for which we demonstrate our formalism include resource provisioning of global providers of infrastructure and/or platform resources, online social networking services, user-data processing services, online customer and ticketing services, online asset management and banking applications, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications, and online social gaming applications.


Forest City Gunung Sari has a potential that needs to be extracted and can be used for example to value the beauty that can be used as a tourist attraction. Bird was instrumental in building a tourist park because of its beauty is the value of voice and other fur. The beauty of birds of all he had to give a pleasure in itself. Based on the results of observations show that of the three habitats in the path of observation, obtained the number of diurnal birds have been found in the study site 18 species, classified into 13 families, namely : (Accipitridae), (Columbidae), (Aegithinidae), (Nectariniidae), (Dicaeidae), (Hirundinidae), (Estrildidae), (Psittaculidae), (Timaliidae), (Cisticolidae), (Passeridae), (Pycnonotidae), (Picidae). Primer forest habitats found in 13 species of diurnal birds, 12 species of secondary forest habitats and 9 species around the estate. From the calculation, the highest dominance index contained in the habitat surrounding forest plantations morning time C=0.1613, day time C=0.1458, and the afternoon time C=0.1264. While the species diversity index was highest in primary forest habitat value morning time =1.0531, day time =1.0397, =0.0260 late afternoon and secondary forest habitats have a high diversity index values in the morning with value of =1.0287. Habitat differences provide a clear influence of the dominant species, in which the dominance of this species is the opposite of diversity. Diversity of small species produce mastery of habitats, so that the dominance of the species will be spread more evenly due to the small number of species that might be the number of individuals to live and breed better. Keywords: Diversity of species , diurnal bird , forest city Gunung Sari .


In this paper, we study the global attractivity for a class of periodic difference equation with delay which has a generalized form of Pielou's difference equation. The global dynamics of the equation is characterized by using a relation between the upper limit and lower limit of the solution. There are two possible global dynamics: zero solution is globally attractive or there exists a periodic solution which is globally attractive. Recent results by Camouzis and Ladas [Periodically forced Pielou's equation, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 333 (1) (2007) 117–127] are generalized. Two examples are given to illustrate our results.


Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most common cause of heart failure in the developed world. Following MI, reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in the pathogenesis of cardiac remodeling leading to impaired ventricular function. Oxidative stress at high levels lead to many of the injury associated changes: proinflammatory cytokine release, myocyte apoptosis, cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy. Nicotinamide adenine denucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase with Nox2 as the catalytic subunit, is a major source for cardiac ROS production. After MI, Nox2 expression is significantly increased in the infarcted myocardium. Moreover, mice lacking the Nox2 gene are protected from ischemic injury. We used polyketals, a new class of acid-degradable polymers, as delivery vehicles for Nox2-siRNA to the post-MI environment. When engaged by macrophages, present in high quantities during MI, these particles have been shown to be taken up by macrophages and contents released within cells in active form. Nox2-siRNA was ion-paired to the cationic lipid DOTAP, and spherical particles averaging 500nm diameter were made by a single emulsion procedure with polyketal PK3 using PVA as surfactant. While a commercially available transfection reagent yielded 7% uptake as measured by flow cytometery, 81% of macrophages were positive for fluorescently-labeled siRNA in PK3-siNOX2 treated cells. These data were confirmed with confocal microscopy. Macrophages treated with PK3-siNOX2 demonstrated a significant 43% knockdown in Nox2 gene expression at 24 hours, while no reduction was seen with scrambled siRNA or empty particles. Functional activity was assessed by a fluorescent dihyroethidium dye based HPLC quantification after phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate stimulation following 72 hours of particle treatment to measure superoxide production. PK3-siNox2 treated cells exhibited a 41% reduction in activity, with no significant changes seen with scrambled siRNA or empty particle treatment. Currently, the therapeutic potential of the Nox2-siRNA particles is being evaluated in a mouse model of ischemia-reperfusion. Successful completion of these studies could lead to a novel treatment for post-infarction injury.


The pollen morphology of 17 taxa of Gundelia, of which 13 taxa are endemic to Turkey, was investigated by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In this study, the pollen morphology of 16 taxa except G. tournefortii was investigated for the first time. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multivariate statistics. The pollen grains are oblate spheroidal and prolate spheroidal in shape with the polar diameter of 37.01–61.2 μm and the equatorial diameter of 31.2–63.4 μm. The smallest pollen grains were observed in G. anatolica, G. rosea and G. tournefortii, while the largest pollen grains were observed in G. vitekii, G. komagenensis and G. colemerikensis. Pollen ornamentation is echinate in LM and echinate-microperforate in SEM. Statistically, the relationships between pollen characters of the examined taxa were identified using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Clustering Analyzis. In addition, a dendrogram was constructed by applying UPGMA based on the determined 15 pollen morphological characters, and the degree of their relationship was discussed. Polar axis, equatorial diameter and colpus length were the major explanations of the pollen morphological characters' total variation in PCA. Pair group method was used to divide the main pollen taxa into three groups based on the pollen morphology by using arithmetic averages analysis (PCA scatterplot and cluster analysis). As a result, the pollen shape, polar axis, equatorial diameter and spine length were important characters distingushing the taxa from each other. We found some matches and mismatches between pollen and morphological characters, whose significance requires further study.


Due to the rapidly increasing demand for clean energy, harnessing solar energy has been considered to be a promising way to solve the impending energy crisis. Among the various photovoltaic technologies, organic photovoltaics (OPV) are continuing to receive intensive interest with power conversion efficiencies of over 10% demonstrated recently. Solution processed organic solar cells have unique prospects for achieving low-cost energy harvesting via continuous roll-to-roll processing. A key requirement for fabricating high efficiency organic solar cells is the control of the thin-film morphology to facilitate efficient charge separation and collection. The active layer of an OPV device is based on a bulk heterojunction structure, consisting of an interpenetrating network of electron donor and electron acceptor. In this thesis, the application of a combination of synchrotron-based techniques enables a detailed characterization of polymer blend solar cells, providing an understanding of the relationship between the thin-film morphology and device performance. In particular, the effects of different thin-film treatments such as thermal annealing, anti-solvent treatment and the use of solvent additive to tune the blend morphology for optimized device performance are assessed.


We study convergence of iterated belief revision in complex fusion environments, which may consist of a network of soft (i.e., human or human-based) and hard (i.e., conventional physics-based) sensors and where agent communications may be asynchronous and the link structure may be dynamic. In particular, we study the problem in which network agents exchange and revise belief functions (which generalize probability mass functions) and are more geared towards handling the uncertainty pervasive in soft/hard fusion environments. We focus on belief revision in which agents utilize a generalized fusion rule that is capable of generating a rational consensus. It includes the widely used weighted average consensus as a special case. By establishing this fusion scheme as a pool of paracontracting operators, we derive general convergence criteria that are relevant for a wide range of applications. Furthermore, we analyze the conditions for consensus for various social networks by simulating several network topologies and communication patterns that are characteristic of such networks.


Polyelectrolyte complexation (PEC) is an associative phase separation process initiated by mixing of two kinds of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte solutions. PEC-based materials have been recognized as ideal prototypes to study membraneless organelles, self-assembled into smart delivery vehicles for nucleotides and proteins, and fabricated into functional devices for purification purposes. Continuous studies have been devoted to understanding thermodynamics, kinetics, morphology, and structures of the polyelectrolyte complexation systems, which were summarized in Chapter 1 of this dissertation. However, a lot of the studies remained qualitative, and the fundamental understanding of the polymer physics involved has not kept pace. Specifically, a precise description of the binodal phase diagram capturing detailed phase behaviors and partitioning of different components into the two respective phases is still lacking. Moreover, joint efforts by experiments and theories are needed to provide an overarching framework with the predictive capacity to control the properties of the PEC-based materials.

Accordingly, we have designed a new experimental approach combining salt resistance measurement and thermogravimetric analysis with minimum processing and approximation to produce accurate binodal phase diagrams. Chapter 2 of this dissertation focused on illustrating the phase behaviors of a "clean" polypeptide system, poly(lysine) and poly(glutamic acid) with hydrophilic backbones and matched chain lengths. Essential features of this system were demonstrated, including the screening effect of salt, self-suppression and the change of the volume fraction of the complex phase with addition of salt. Additionally, the salt partitioning into the supernatant phase was found to initially increase and then decrease on increasing the salt concentrations, manifesting as a distinct minimum in the salt partition coefficients. These trends were shown by simulations to be strongly influenced by the excluded volume interactions in the complex phase, which were not accounted for in their entirety in earlier theories.

Equipped with the knowledge from the polypeptide system, we have further extended our research to an aliphatic pair of poly(acrylic acid) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) with hydrophobic backbones in Chapter 3 of the dissertation. While we found the phase behaviors were, to some extent, similar under neutral/basic pHs and followed general expectations of PEC materials, remarkably different behaviors were observed under acidic conditions. Unintuitively, polymer content in the complex phase increased as salt was added, due to the hydrophobicity of aliphatic polymer backbones coupled with hydrogen bonding of unionized monomer units. We systematically investigated both of these specific interactions using turbidimetry, microscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy. These binodal phase diagrams detailed the associative secondary phase assembly from electrostatic complexation, precipitation of an individual polymer, and other noncovalent contributions as a function of pH, polymer concentration, and added salt.

Lastly, Chapter 4 of the dissertation has compared the binodal phase behaviors of both polypeptide and aliphatic polyelectrolyte systems to accentuate the effect of solvent quality and chain length. The experimental results could be qualitatively explained by the scaling theory and random phase approximation calculation. The threshold value of Flory-Huggins χ parameter distinguishing complexation disintegration upon salt addition and that remaining stable even at high salt concentrations could be estimated. Additionally, the salt resistance concentration was shown to be proportional to the square root of the polymer chain length.


Organisms are exposed to multiple sources of stress in nature. When confronted with a stressful period affecting growth and development, compensatory responses allow the restoration of individual fitness, providing an important buffering mechanism against climatic and other environmental variability. However, trade-offs between increased growth/development and other physiological traits are predicted to prevent these high growth and development rates from becoming constitutive. Here, we investigated how compensatory responses in growth and development affect immune responses. By using low temperature to stop embryonic development, we exposed moor frog Rana arvalis tadpoles to two levels of time-constraints: non-delayed hatching and 12-day delayed hatching. In a common garden experiment, we recorded larval growth and development, as well as their immune response, measured as the inflammatory reaction after the injection of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). Tadpoles originating from delayed hatching treatments had a lower immune response to PHA challenge than those from the non-delayed hatching treatment. In general, tadpoles from the delayed hatching treatment reached metamorphosis faster and at a smaller size than control tadpoles. However, immune-challenged tadpoles were not able to accelerate their development in response to delayed hatching. Our results indicate that 1) the innate immune response can be reduced in organisms undergoing compensatory developmental responses in growth and development and 2) compensatory capacity can be reduced when organisms are immunologically challenged. These dual findings reveal the complexity of handling multiple stressors and highlight the importance of examining the costs and limits of mounting an immune response in the context of increasing phenological instability ascribed to climate change.

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Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal (GE) junction has risen dramatically over the last three decades. Outcomes continue to be poor with 5 year survivals estimated at 15%. These poor outcomes are related to the advanced presentation in the majority of patients in addition to the resistance esophageal adenocarcinoma displays to cisplatin based chemotherapy or radiation especially when each is administered alone. Only one-third of patients will have significant benefit and achieve complete responses when treated with the combination of cisplatin-based chemotherapy and radiation followed by surgical resection. Therefore, the need persists for overcoming resistance to cisplatin-based chemotherapy and radiation. Previous studies have highlighted the role of DNA repair pathways in resistance to cisplatin or radiation in a number of solid organ malignancies. The nucleotide repair pathway (NER) repairs the majority of cisplatin-induced DNA lesions while DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) formed in response to radiation are repaired by homologous recombination (HR) and the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathways. We hypothesized that cisplatin and radiation resistance in esophageal adenocarcinoma is mediated through abnormalities in these DNA repair pathways. Using paired GE junction adenocarcinoma tumor samples with their matched normal tissue, we analyzed the expression of DNA repair genes in NER, HR and NHEJ pathways using quantitative RT-PCR. We identified overexpression of genes involved in HR in esophageal tumor samples in comparison to their normal counterparts. Eme1, an endonuclease present in complex with Mus81, showed consistent overexpression in GE junction adenocarcinoma samples. Mus81-Eme1 has been shown to play an important role in rescuing stalled replication forks and has been implicated in the repair of interstrand crosslinks, such as those formed in response to cisplatin therapy. Eme1 overexpression in esophageal adenocarcinoma could play a role in resistance to cisplatin through its impact on the repair of cisplatin induced DNA lesions. In addition, Eme1 overexpression could lead to genomic instability contributing to pathogenesis, metastases and therapeutic resistance. Further understanding the implications of Eme1 overexpression in these processes in GE junction adenocarcinoma will be of significant value.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3099. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3099


Background Acute postprandial hyperglycemia is an important affector for atherosclerosis in subjects with glucose intolerance. We analyzed the relationship of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) with fasting and post-challenge plasma glucose levels according to different time points during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Methods In 663 subjects with fasting hyperglycemia, 75 g OGTT were performed to confirm the glucose tolerant status, and fasting, post-challenge 30-minute and 120-minute glucose levels were measured. Anthropometric measurements were done, and fasting lipid profiles were measured. baPWV were measured in all subjects and the relationship between fasting, 30- and 120-minute post-challenge glucose levels and baPWV were analyzed. Results Among the participants, 62.9% were prediabetes and 31.7% were diabetes. Mean baPWV value was significantly higher in subjects with diabetes compared with prediabetes group. In bivariate correlation analyses, age, blood pressure, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, 30-minute and 120-minute post-challenge glucose levels showed significant positive correlation with baPWV value. In multiple regression analysis, 30-minute post-challenge glucose level was a weak but significant determinant for mean baPWV value even after adjustment for other confounding variables. Conclusions Postprandial hyperglycemia, especially 30-minute glucose levels showed significant correlation with baPWV in subjects with fasting hyperglycemia. These results can imply the deleterious effect of acute hyperglycemic excursion on arterial stiffness in subjects with glucose intolerance.


Diphenic acid (H2dip) has been used to synthesize nine homo- or heterometallic uranyl ion complexes under solvo-hydrothermal conditions. The diphenate ligand dip2- adopts different coordination modes, mixtures of κ2-O,O'-chelation by individual carboxylate groups, chelation involving both carboxylate groups, and bridging, resulting in different associations of the cations present. [UO2(dip)] (1), [UO2(dip)(bipy)] (2), and [UO2(dip)(phen)] (3) crystallize as monoperiodic coordination polymers, complex 1 with the bridging and both chelation modes of the ligand, and 2 and 3 with only the bis-κ2-O,O'-chelated mode and further chelation by 2,2'-bipyridine (bipy) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen). The two isomorphous complexes [H2NMe2]2[(UO2)2(dip)3] (4) and [(UO2)2Ag2(dip)3(H2O)(CH3CN)] (5) display ladder-like monoperiodic arrangements with the hydrogen bonded H2NMe2+ or carboxylate-bound, decorating Ag+ cations occupying similar positions within the chains. [Ni(R,S-Me6cyclam)(H2O)2][UO2(dip)2] (6) contains a discrete dianionic mononuclear species, while [(UO2)2(dip)2(Hdip)2Ni(cyclam)]·2H2O·2CH3CN (7) crystallizes as a monoperiodic, heterometallic polymer, with further formation of layers through reciprocal hydrogen bonding of the carboxylic acid groups. A discrete dinuclear dianionic complex is present in [Cu(R,S-Me6cyclam)][UO2(dip)(NO3)]2 (8), which crystallizes together with [(UO2)3(dip)4Cu(R,S-Me6cyclam)(H2O)2]·6H2O (9), a diperiodic assembly in which uranyl-containing dimeric units are assembled in chains through diaxial carboxylate coordination of Cu(R,S-Me6cyclam)2+ cations, with further bridging by uranyl cations generating a network with the fes topology. The uranyl emission spectra of complexes 3, 4 and 5 show the usual vibronic fine structure, while uranyl emission in 7 is largely quenched.


The synthetic trimethyl prostanoid Ro 22-6923 was studied for its effects on histamine-stimulated gastric acid secretion in Heidenhain pouch dogs. The prostanoid (at a p.o. dose as low as 0.05 mg/kg) produced significant inhibition of gastric acid secretion induced by 12 micrograms/kg/h of histamine for 5 h. A dose of 0.5 mg/kg p.o. produced a significant antisecretory effect within 45 min that lasted for 8.5 h. Cimetidine (5 mg/kg p.o.) produced an inhibitory effect on acid output equivalent to the 0.5-mg/kg dose of Ro 22-6923, but the duration of the cimetidine effect was less than 6 h. Administration of Ro 22-6923 i.v. (0.25 mg/kg) inhibited acid output for longer than 8 h. Against a 25-micrograms/kg/h histamine challenge, Ro 22-6923 (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg) inhibited acid output to an equal degree but for a longer duration than cimetidine (5 mg/kg). Pepsin output was totally inhibited by 0.5 mg/kg of Ro 22-6923, whereas 5 mg/kg of cimetidine inhibited pepsin output by approximately 60%. Pepsin activity in the gastric juice was reduced by Ro 22-6923 and was increased by cimetidine. Blood flow, as estimated by the aminopyrine clearance technique, was reduced slightly by Ro 22-6923 and cimetidine. However, the ratio of clearance to acid secretory rate increased with both compounds, suggesting a direct effect of Ro 22-6923 and cimetidine on acid secretion at the parietal cell level. The results suggest that Ro 22-6923 may be a useful therapeutic agent for peptic ulcer disease in humans.


Abstract A standardized approach to annotating computational biomedical models and their associated files can facilitate model reuse and reproducibility among research groups, enhance search and retrieval of models and data, and enable semantic comparisons between models. Motivated by these potential benefits and guided by consensus across the COmputational Modeling in BIology NEtwork (COMBINE) community, we have developed a specification for encoding annotations in Open Modeling and EXchange (OMEX)-formatted archives. Distributing modeling projects within these archives is a best practice established by COMBINE, and the OMEX metadata specification presented here provides a harmonized, community-driven approach for annotating a variety of standardized model and data representation formats within an archive. The specification primarily includes technical guidelines for encoding archive metadata, so that software tools can more easily utilize and exchange it, thereby spurring broad advancements in model reuse, discovery, and semantic analyses.


The field of wireless communication is under massive development and the demands on the cellular system, especially, are constantly increasing as the utilizing devices are increasing in number and diversity. A key component of wireless communication is the knowledge of the channel, i.e, how the signal is affected when sent over the wireless medium. Channel prediction is one concept which can improve current techniques or enable new ones in order to increase the performance of the cellular system. Firstly, this report will investigate the concept of a predictor antenna on new, extensive measurements which represent many different environments and scenarios. A predictor antenna is a separate antenna that is placed in front of the main antenna on the roof of a vehicle. The predictor antenna could enable good channel prediction for high velocity vehicles. The measurements show to be too noisy to be used directly in the predictor antenna concept but show potential if the measurements can be noise-filtered without distorting the signal. The use of low-pass filter and Kalman filter to do this, did not give the desired results but the technique to do this should be further investigated.Secondly, a interpolation technique will be presented which utilizes predictions with different prediction horizon by estimating intermediate channel components using interpolation. This could save channel feedback resources as well as give a better robustness to bad channel predictions by letting fresh, local, channel predictions be used as quality reference of the interpolated channel estimates. For a linear interpolation between 8-step and 18-step Kalman predictions with Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) of -15.02 dB and -10.88 dB, the interpolated estimates had an average NMSE of -13.14 dB, while lowering the required feedback data by about 80 %. The use of a warning algorithm reduced the NMSE by a further 0.2 dB. It mainly eliminated the largest prediction error which otherwise could lead to retransmission, which is not desired.


Dynamic taint analysis is gaining momentum. Techniques based on dynamic tainting have been successfully used in the context of application security, and now their use is also being explored in different areas, such as program understanding, software testing, and debugging. Unfortunately, most existing approaches for dynamic tainting are defined in an ad-hoc manner, which makes it difficult to extend them, experiment with them, and adapt them to new contexts. Moreover, most existing approaches are focused on data-flow based tainting only and do not consider tainting due to control flow, which limits their applicability outside the security domain. To address these limitations and foster experimentation with dynamic tainting techniques, we defined and developed a general framework for dynamic tainting that (1) is highly flexible and customizable, (2) allows for performing both data-flow and control-flow based tainting conservatively, and (3) does not rely on any customized run-time system. We also present DYTAN, an implementation of our framework that works on x86 executables, and a set of preliminary studies that show how DYTAN can be used to implement different tainting-based approaches with limited effort. In the studies, we also show that DYTAN can be used on real software, by using FIREFOX as one of our subjects, and illustrate how the specific characteristics of the tainting approach used can affect efficiency and accuracy of the taint analysis, which further justifies the use of our framework to experiment with different variants of an approach.


The purpose of this thesis is to flesh out an understanding of the lived experience of the homosexual closet and ultimately how it is portrayed in film. It uses film, however, as a snapshot of potential realities that reflect the gay individual in society. It relies heavily on the social theories and work of Edward T. Hall, Erving Goffman, Albert E. Scheflen, Judith Butler, and Gerschen Kaufman, among others, to build a framework for understanding the closet on both a macro and micro scale. It does not attempt to isolate the homosexual but rather to situate him or her within a milieu where established cultural norms and key social constituents all play an active role in establishing the parameters that govern the gay closet and impose it upon the homosexual. Ultimately, it asks the question of how is the closet dismantled and the closet-promoting stigma removed. Illustratively, it turns to the poem "Two Loves," as well as the films Doña Herlinda y su Hijo, Edge of Seventeen, and Juste un question d'amour, as a means of rendering visible the complicated affective dynamics of the closet. The international nature of the selections aids in universalizing the dilemma of the closet such that it avoids being able to scapegoat the other; rather, it underscores the global reality of the closet as an abusive imposition of heteronormativity with which human kind is grappling globally. In the end, it posits that the right to the pursuit of happiness is only checked via the closeting of all involved.


Reinforced concrete structures generally refers to beams, columns and walls which are constituted by complex lattices of steel bars embedded in a concrete matrix, exhibiting multiple cracks due to high external loads. This paper presents the formulation of a numerical model aimed at describing the fracture process in reinforced concrete, from the volumetric ratio of concrete and steel Crack formation and propagation in a composite material is described in the model by an enhanced strain field, such as that established in the continuum strong discontinuity approach and mixture theory. The composite material is constituted by a concrete matrix and one or two steel bar orthogonal packages. The steel and concrete are represented by a one-dimensional plasticity model and a scalar damage model having different tension and compression strength, respectively. The dowel action and the bond-slip effects between the bars and the matrix are described with additional models relating component material stress and strain. It is concluded that the proposed model can easily be implemented in the finite element method, due to several conventional nonlinear numerical process characteristics which remain. The model would also allow the problem to be analysed at macroscopic scale, thereby avoiding a finite element mesh having to be constructed for each component material and its interaction effects and reducing computational costs.


Expressions for the variance and other probability moments of strongly fluctuating irradiance of light after propagation through turbulent atmosphere are developed from a high-frequency approximation of the solution of the scalar wave equation. These expressions imply a Rayleigh distribution of the irradiance in the limit of strong turbulence and/or long propagation paths. The theory provides a good fit to Gracheva and Gurvich's data (corrected for a processing error) and to the more dispersed recent data of Gracheva. It is argued that existing evidence for a log-normal distribution cannot reject a Rayleigh distribution whereas the assumption of log-normal distribution has implications conflicting with theory and/or experiment.


OBJECTIVE
To check the effectiveness of peer-led education in improving the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of high school students regarding viral hepatitis (VH).

METHODS
This study was conducted at 29 high schools in Erzurum city center, Turkey between February and May 2007. The study design is a prospective before-and-after intervention trial. In this study, 2930 students from 29 different schools were included. A total of 559 volunteer students were trained as peer educators. These students applied a standard education to their peers.

RESULTS
The total knowledge scores of peer educators before was 7.99 ± 2.73, and 13.91 ± 3.85 after peer-training (p=0.000). The total knowledge scores of other students increased from 7.27 ± 2.85 to 11.20 ± 4.21 (p=0.000). There was an increase in all correct answers to the knowledge questions after the intervention (p=0.000). Response to the questions exploring attitude of students towards people infected with hepatitis virus significantly changed after the training (p=0.002). There was also a significant positive change in the behaviors after the intervention (p=0.000).

CONCLUSION
The significant increase in the knowledge of students trained by their peers proves this method is effective to be utilized in the prevention strategies regarding VH infections. Further studies with long term follow-up would be useful to demonstrate the long term value of peer education.


Constructing references for your assignments can be challenging - use this LibGuide to get help for the more common resource types, as well as for help with how to footnote/endnote.


Air samples were collected in Chicago, Illinois in 2007, and 3,3′-dichlorobiphenyl (PCB11, CAS 2050-67-1) was detected and quantified using GC/MS/MS in 91% of 184 samples. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published report of PCB11 in ambient air. This compound is ubiquitous in air throughout the city of Chicago. The annual mean concentration in air samples collected from November 2006 to November 2007 is 24 pg m−3 (±24 pg m−3 SD), although the seasonal variation is significant. The concentration of PCB11 is up to 15% of measured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in air but only up to 0.16% of commercial Aroclor mixtures that were banned from production in the 1970s. PCB11 is associated with pigments, paints, and resins and has been reported to be a dominant congener among PCBs detected in the wastewater effluent from paint production. The wide distribution of PCB11 in Chicago air is consistent with volatilization of this compound from painted surfaces although the actual source of PCB11 is unknown.


Amorphous metallic particles containing some boron have been generated in a mordenite matrix by reducing the ion-exchanged M2+-mordenite (M = Fe, Co or Ni) at ambient temperature with sodium borohydride. The products have been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, chemical analysis, transmission electron microscopy and SQUID magnetometer measurements. The Ni–B particles have a smaller particle size (20–40 nm) compared to the Co–B (70–120 nm) and Fe–B particles (140–200 nm). The Ni–B particles are deposited in defect pores within the mordenite framework while the Co–B and Fe–B particles are deposited on the external surfaces. The differences seem to arise owing to an easier reducibility of Ni2+ compared to Co2+ or Fe2+, and a reduction of Ni2+ in solid but Co2+ and Fe2+ in solution. All three systems exhibit superparamagnetic behaviour with the blocking temperature increasing from the Ni system to the Fe system. The differences in magnetic properties among the three systems are explained on the basis of the changes in magnetic anisotropic energy. The decreasing reducibility from Ni2+ to Fe2+ as well as the deposition of Co and Fe on the external surfaces seem to increase the compositional inhomogeneities and hence the magnetic anisotropic energy from the Ni system to the Fe system.


Summary Many Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoir rocks from offshore Norway contain carbonate-cemented intervals which typically make up 1–10% of the total sequence. Being nearly impermeable to fluid flow, their distribution may strongly influence reservoir properties. It is therefore important to understand the genesis of these carbonate cements. Studies of the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous reservoir rocks from the Haltenbanken and Viking Graben area show that the sandstones contain dominantly two types of calcite cements: (i) microsparry and sparry calcite (Type I) and (ii) poikilotopic calcite (Type II). Type I calcite with δ18O values between −4.5 and −8.4‰ PDB precipitated relatively rapidly at shallow burial and at temperatures between 15 and 40°C, possibly from porewater of meteoric origin. Type II calcite with δ18O values between −10 and −12‰ PDB have precipitated later at temperatures corresponding to 50–60°C (at ∼ 1.5 km burial depth). Fluid inclusion data also indicate that Type II calcites have crystallized at temperatures between 56 and 68°C. Silicate grains are often corroded by Type I calcite while grains contained in Type II calcite are uncorroded, suggesting that the porewater was in near equilibrium with the main silicate phases (quartz and feldspar) during the precipitation of Type II calcite. The degree of supersaturation in the porewater with respect to low Mg calcite probably decreased with increasing burial depth as sources of more soluble carbonate (aragonite, high Mg calcite) were exhausted, causing slower precipitation rates and increased crystal size. The Type II (poikilotopic) calcite is thought to have formed at the expense of only slightly more soluble low Mg calcite crystals. The fact that the Type II calcite shows nearly the same δ18O value (−10 to −12‰ PDB) in sandstones ranging in present burial depth from 1.6 to 5 km suggests that this type of carbonate cementation probably took place early (at temperatures less than 60–70°C), and that very little dissolution and reprecipitation occurred at higher temperatures (greater burial depth).


Geographical transportation information collection is the foundation and prerequisite for realizing the intelligent transportation planning. The traditional C/S based CIS would be very difficult to collect omni-directional geographical transportation information from different departments and public. This paper proposed an infrastructure of Web-GIS based transportation planning CSCW system. The system structure has been investigated for collecting, issuing, interchanging and sharing the geo-referenced information with Java GIS and J2EE technology. A collaborative working environment has been designed for all the departments to working together for transportation planning over Internet. The system could offer an efficient means for transportation planning and enable different departments and public to participate the activities of urban transportation planning, so that the transportation planners and public could work together to fulfill the transportation planning work. It could be beneficial to hurry up the processes of transportation planning.


*Address for correspondence E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Yuan et al.: Effect of Diosmin Combined with Ulinastatin on Renal Injury Renal transplantation, as an effective treatment for end-stage renal disease, has many clinical complications, among which delayed graft function recovery, as one of the common postoperative complications, is also a major risk factor affecting the short-term and long-term efficacy of renal transplantation. Therefore, reasonable use of delayed graft function after renal transplantation to promote renal function recovery is of great significance for the prognosis of these patients. Based on this, 62 patients who underwent renal transplantation and developed delayed graft function in our hospital from June 2017 to December 2019 were selected as the research objects. According to the random color method, they were divided into three groups; diosmin group (n=20), ulinastatin group (n=21) and combination group (n=21). To observe the effects of different medication regimens on renal injury markers and renal ultrasound related indexes in patients with delayed graft function and to lay a theoretical foundation for guiding clinical medication and improving prognosis of delayed graft function recovery patients. After comparing the general data of the three groups, it was found that there was no significant difference (p>0.05), indicating that there was no difference in medication results due to personal factors. The levels of serum creatinine, cystatin and blood urea nitrogen in the ulinastatin group after treatment were significantly better than those before treatment. The levels of renal injury markers in the combined group were significantly better after treatment than before treatment. According to the ultrasound results, there was no significant difference in the renal ultrasound indexes between the diosmin and ulinastatin groups after treatment, while the renal ultrasound indexes of the combined group were better than those of the other two groups. It can be concluded from the results that diosmin combined with ulinastatin can significantly reduce renal injury in patients with delayed graft function and can effectively improve renal function in such patients, which has a positive effect on improving prognosis.


Robotic roller hemming is currently one of the most used solution for joining metal sheets in automotive industry, especially for those production lines which need to favor flexibility with respect to raw productivity and is mostly employed to assemble car doors. Hemming is a fairly delicate process since it does not only suffice a technical requirement – to join two panels together – but also an aesthetical one, since the joint panels are an integral part of the vehicle design and as such an important selling point. An unpredicted rupture or an advanced degradation condition of the system would lead to a significant loss in the quality of the final product or to a sudden stoppage of the production line. The development of a PHM system for hemming devices would hence provide a significant advantage, especially if designed to work for both new and legacy equipment. In this paper, we provide the results of a preliminary analysis of a new PHM framework for robotic roller hemming studied to work without having access to PLC data, the employed data-driven methodology is detailed and applied to the case of increasing wear in the head finger roll. Results from different prognostics routines are hence presented and compared.


The government has revived its campaign for "Buy Malaysian Goods" in 2010 after its last campaign in 2009, in due to an increase of foreign competition. The campaign is to remind consumers to be ethnocentric and patriotic when purchasing product and services. This study attempts to specify the demographic profile of ethnocentric consumers; to validate the scale of ethnocentrism and its antecedents, and; to determine ethnocentrism index for Malaysian consumers. From the literature, 7 antecedents of customer ethnocentrisms were identified. Each variable is measured using 7-point Likert-scale: culture openness (6 items), conservatism (6 items), collectivism (6 items), patriotism (6 items), control belief (10 items), interest in foreign travel (4 items), and attitude toward local product (8 items). From 1000 questionnaires distributed to households, 486 were returned representing 48.6 percent response rate. The EFA of exogenous latent variables shows that most items conform back into its underlying components, thus, the instruments seem to surpass the convergent validity test. EFA of ethnocentrism however, diverts into two components: ethnocentrism (11) and animosity (6). The findings indicate support for validity of measurement models of all variables utilized. But, the result revealed that the ethnocentrism index for Malaysian consumers is middle category index. Keywords : Ethnocentrism, culture openness, attitude JEL Classification : M3


There exists a great deal of uncertainty as to which specific chemicals present in the rubber products manufacturing industry give rise to the increases in cancer that have been seen to date and which are regarded by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as carcinogenic; especially since after this IARC classification, exposures in the rubber industry have decreased considerably and efforts have been made to remove confirmed carcinogens from the production process. We updated a cohort of 40,867 men who were employed in the British rubber industry on 1 February 1967. Follow-up was last updated until 1976 and an excess risk of bladder cancer in men likely exposure to beta-naphthylamine based antioxidants (before these were withdrawn from the process in 1949), excess death from lung cancer across the industry and excess mortality from stomach cancer in the tyre sector were observed. We have extended the mortality follow-up to 45-years and are linking it to a population-specific quantitative job-exposure matrix based on available data previously collected in the EU EXASRUB project. We are currently waiting for tracing outcomes for mortality by the Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), and so we will present the first results of industry- and job-specific cancer mortality risks as well as quantitative exposure-response associations for rubber dust and fumes and specific n-Nitrosamines. There are only few occupational cohorts of this size with such long follow-up, so the presented analyses will provide an important overview of lifetime exposure-specific cancer mortality risks of specific exposures historically and currently encountered in the industry.


Intelligent space technology is applied to robot in order to provide more autonomous, accurate and intelligent home service work in an unknown or semi-unknown dynamic environment. Based on the idea of knowledge distribution, intelligent distribution and the wireless network technology, a home environment is equipped with many types of sensors and actuators to establish an artificial home service environment where human and robots coexist. Combined with the intelligent space technology, a home service robot can obtain more comprehensive environmental information and perceive human and objects in space more completely. Many tasks in the complex enviroment can be accomplished by home service robot. In this paper, an intelligent space system oriented to home service robot is constructed; some key technologies in this system are proposed; based on the intelligent space system, the smart and agilely home service provided by home service robot is introduced in detail.


: The pathogenesis of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis is still unknown today. Only prematurity has been confirmed as a primary risk factor. Previous studies demonstrated the special pathophysiological conditions in prematurity. Differences in intestinal permeability, blood flow in anemia and hypoxemia, the uptake, transport, delivery and consumption of oxygen, the digestion of carbohydrates and proteins and in intestinal motility between premature and term infants exist. The diving-reflex too is important for intestinal pathophysiology in these patients. The central key of the pathogenesis is the evident vascular damage. Infectious agents, inflammatory mediators, circulatory insufficiency, feeding excess is followed by the initial mucosal damage. This results in an increased intestinal permeability also for inflammatory mediators, endotoxins, bacteria and gas. Ileus, stasis and gas production cause endotoxinemia and abdominal distension. Increased intraluminal pressure with or without activation of inflammatory mediators leads to an important vascular dysregulation. Consecutively these multiple facts cause the "ischemic looking" hemorrhagic necrosis, we call necrotizing enterocolitis.


This study presents a new Sag Swell Generator (SSG) topology to generate several power quality problems such as sag, swell and interruption. In this paper, bridge type bidirectional switch based SSG is presented to generate different fault conditions. The main contribution of proposed topology is to provide low-cost and simple solution compared to conventional transformer based SSG topologies. The experimental results show that the proposed SSG is a novel topology for low-cost laboratory applications.


Objective: Hydatiform mole (HM) is a non-malignant form of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) characterized by failure of normal fetal development and overgrowth of trophoblasts. With this retrospective cohort study, we planned to determine the incidence of PHM, etiology and progression rates to Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Materials and Method: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in Ankara Etlik Zübeyde Hanım Women's Health Training and Research Hospital Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit between March 2016 and February 2022. Patients who underwent therapeutic curettage (T/C) with the diagnosis of missed abortion, intrauterine exitus (IUEX), molar pregnancy or incomplete abortion after single spontaneous pregnancy were included in the study. The study group consisted of 138 patients who were diagnosed with partial hydatiform mole as a result of pathological examination in this process. There were 135 patients in the control group.
Results: The number of patients who applied during the pandemic period and were diagnosed with PHM was 62 (44.92%). The mean age of the patients in the study group was 31.97±8.26 years. The mean body mass index of these patients was 26.38±5.13 m2/kg. The mean paternal age in the study group was 34.95±8.32 years, and it was higher than the paternal age of the patients in the control group (p=0.028). While the incidence of PHM was 1.22/1000 births in our hospital in 2019, this figure was calculated as 3.79/1000 births in 2020. The incidence of progression to GTN at 4 years before the pandemic was 0.02/1000 births; In 2020-2021, this rate was calculated as 0.25/1000 births.
Conclusion: During the pandemic period, along with the increase in the incidence of PHM compared to the pre-pandemic period, an increase in the incidence of progression to GTN disease was detected.


Maps Documents Preface Chapter 1 Japanese History: Origins to the Twelfth Century Beginnings Jomon Culture The Yayoi Revolution The Spread of Yayoi Culture Tomb Culture, the Yamato State, and Korea Religion in Early Japan Nara and Heian Japan Seventh Century Developments Nara and Early Heian Government A Japanese Pattern of Government People, Land and Taxes Rise of the Samurai Aristocratic Culture and Buddhism Chinese Tradition in Japan Birth of Japanese Literature Nara and Heian Buddhism Early Japanese History in Historical Perspective Chapter 2 Medieval Japan: The Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries Military Rule by the Taira, Minamoto, and Ashikaga The Taira at the Kyoto Court Rise of Minamoto Yoritomo The Question of Feudalism in Twelfth Century Japan Kamakura Rule After Yoritomo Women in Warrior Society The Ashikaga Era Agriculture, Commerce, and Medieval Guilds Warring States Era War of All Against All Foot Soldier Revolution Piracy, Trade, and Foreign Relations Buddhism and Medieval Culture Japanese Pietism: Pure Land and Nichiren Buddhism Zen Buddhism No Plays Medieval Japan in Historical Perspective Chapter 3 The Era of Tokugawa Rule (1600--1868) Early Unifiers: Nobunaga and Hideyoshi The Seventeenth Century Political Engineering by Tokugawa Ieyasu Economic and Social Change The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries The Forty-Seven Ronin Cycles of Reform Bureaucratization The Later Tokugawa Economy Tokugawa Culture Literature and Drama Confucian Thought Other Developments in Thought Late Traditional Japan in Historical Perspective Chapter 4 Modern Japan, 1853-1945 Overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu (1853--1868) The Setting The Politics of Restoration Building the Meiji State (1868--1890) Centralization and Reforms New Ideas Birth of the Political Parties The Meiji Constitution Growth of a Modern Economy First Phase: Model Industries, the 1870s Second Phase: Private Entrepreneurs, the1880s and 1890s Third Phase: Sustained Growth, 1905-1929 Fourth Phase: Depression and Recovery Meiji Imperialism and the International Order Education, Urbanization, and Modern Ideas The Politics of Imperial Japan (1890--1927) The First Decade of Diet Politics (1890--1900) The Taisho Political Crisis, 1912-1913 The Hara Cabinet, 1918-1921 The Kato Cabinet 1924-1926 Militarism and War (1927--1945) A Crisis in Manchuria The Great Depression The Radical Right and the Military The Pacific War Japanese Militarism and German Naziism Modern Japan in Historical Perspective Chapter 5 Japan, the Recent Decades The Postwar Occupation and Yoshida, 1945-1954 The American Occupation Yoshida Shigeru and Japan's Postwar Policy The Cold War and the Japanese Transformation, 1955-1989 Double Digit Economic Growth Society and Culture Politics: The One and a Half Party System The History of the Present: After 1990 The Economy Society and Culture: Problems and Prospects A New Age of Politics International Relations Japan's Future in Historical Perspective Index


The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method in combination with a well established frequency scaling method was used to calculate the internal fields and current densities induced in a simple model of a pregnant woman and her foetus, when exposed to hand-held metal detectors. The pregnant woman and foetus were modelled using a simple semi-heterogeneous model in 10 mm resolution, consisting of three different types of tissue. The model is based on the scanned shape of a pregnant woman in the 34th gestational week. Nine different representative models of hand-held metal detectors operating in the frequency range from 8 kHz to 2 MHz were evaluated. The metal detectors were placed directly on the abdomen of the computational model with a spacing of 1 cm. Both the induced current density and the specific absorption rate (SAR) are well below the recommended limits for exposure of the general public published in the ICNIRP Guidelines and the IEEE C95.1 Standard. The highest current density is 8.3 mA m(-2) and the highest SAR is 26.5 microW kg(-1). Compared to the limits for the induced current density recommended in the ICNIRP Guidelines, a minimum safety factor of 3 exists. Compared to the IEEE C95. 1 Standard, a safety factor of 60 000 for the specific absorption rate was found. Based on the very low specific absorption rate and an induced current density below the recommended exposure limits, significant temperature rise or nerve stimulation in the pregnant woman or in the foetus can be excluded.


Robots operating in everyday life environments are often required to switch between different tasks. While learning and evolution have been effectively applied to single task performance, multiple task performance still lacks methods that have been demonstrated to be both reliable and efficient. This paper introduces a new method for multiple task performance based on multiobjective evolutionary algorithms, where each task is considered as a separate objective function. In order to verify the effectiveness, the proposed method is applied to evolve neural controllers for the Cyber Rodent (CR) robot that has to switch properly between two distinctly different tasks: 1) protecting another moving robot by following it closely and 2) collecting objects scattered in the environment. Furthermore, the tasks and neural complexity are analyzed by including the neural structure as a separate objective function. The simulation and experimental results using the CR robot show that the multiobjective-based evolutionary method can be applied effectively for generating neural networks that enable the robot to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.


Metallic nanostructures interact in complex ways with light, forming the subject of plasmonics and bringing novel physical phenomena and practical applications. The fundamental and practical importance of plasmonics necessitates the development of a multitude of simulation techniques. Surface integral equation (SIE) is a numerical method which is particularly suited for simulating many plasmonic systems. In this thesis, we develop SIE-based numerical methods for plasmonics and use them to study plasmonic systems of interest. Electric and magnetic surface currents are the basic quantities calculated in SIE, and it is appealing to directly compute various physical quantities directly using them. We develop a formalism to compute optical forces and torques, polarisation charges and multipole moments using the surface currents for better accuracy and efficiency. Numerical simulation is all about finding the right balance between accuracy and computational cost. SIE allows to choose this tradeoff in computing the integrals for the simulation matrix. We study the effect of the integration routine on the accuracy of the matrix and propose an optimised recipe for evaluating the integrals. Although this recipe incurs an overhead, we show how it becomes necessary in computing some physical quantities and simulating some systems, and how it allows simulations using a coarser discretisation. One drawback of SIE is that it can only simulate domains for which the response of each domain can be expressed in terms of the Green's function for the domain. Only homogeneous and periodic domains could be dealt with till now, limiting its applicability. We extend SIE to simulate nanostructures embedded in the layers of a stratified medium to partly overcome this restriction, paving the way for further improvements. SIE has the ability to model complex and realistic geometries. We exploit this feature to study the effect of fabrication-induced rounding on nanorods and gap antennae. We show how rounding results in blue shift of resonances, migration of charges from corners to edges to faces, and reduced coupling between nanostructures. The surface current-based formalism to calculate optical forces and torques permits their computation for particles in close proximity. We use this to study the internal forces in compound plasmonic systems, and show the presence of strong internal forces between their components. We also demonstrate surprising features such as force and torque reversal, and circular polarisation-dependent behaviour in achiral systems. We then numerically investigate the possibility of using optical torques to orient and rotate plasmonic nanostructures, relying on surface plasmon resonance, retardation effects and circular polarisation. Polarisation charges contain useful information about the behaviour of plasmonic systems, but there are difficulties in understanding and visualising them. We discuss the complex nature of polarisation charges and suggest various techniques to visualise them in complicated systems in a manner which is easy to understand without loss of information. Finally, we utilise the ability of SIE to compute accurate near fields to study the Raman enhancement in multi-walled carbon nanotubes on coating with metal, and the analogous quenching of Raman signal from silicon substrates.


pathological changes in the gland can be explained wholly in terms of a vascular catastrophe." This has not been my personal experience. In an article in the British Medical Journal of December 19, 1953, the authors' classified their cases of pancreatitis into three groups: (1) associated with'gall-stones ; (2) associated with alcoholism; and (3) due to primary infection. I would suggest that it might be better (if we must have a classification for pancreatitis) to make it as follows: (1) due to a rise in abdominal pressure from whatever causegall-stones, undue prolongation of the second stage in labour, continual sneezing, continual hiccups, continual coughing; (2) primary infection in the pancreas; and (3) mechanical blockage of pancreatic duct by cysts or tumour. I do not think alcoholism is a primary cause of pancreatitis. It may be that the chronic alcoholic may hiccup his merry way into a pancreatic attack, by fixing his diaphragm and sending his bile juice up the pancreatic duct, but the pain from the resultant explosion of the pancreatic and bile juices is such that he would forswear alcohol for ever and a day.-I am, etc., Glasgow. C.3. A. C. GORDON Ross. REFERENCES 1 British Medical Journal. 1954, 2, 620. 2 Davies, Russell M., et al. (1953). Ibid., 2, 1251. 3 Saint, E. G., and Weiden, S. (1953). Ibid., 2, 1335.


Freshwater availability is affected by changes in climate and growth. We assessed the freshwater vulnerability for five major Korean river basins for 2015 and 2030. We used a regional climate model based on the IPCC SRES A2 scenario, US Geological Survey's Precipitation Rainfall Simulation Model, and population and industrial growth scenarios for impact assessment. The model simulation results suggest increasing spatial and temporal variations of water stress for the basins that are already developed. While freshwater is more vulnerable to growth scenarios than the climate change scenario, climate change alone could decrease mean annual runoff by 10% in four major river basins by 2030. As the first national assessment of climate change, we suggest possible adaptive water resource management and policy strategies for reducing climate related risks in Korea.


Shadow can strengthen the reality of 3D virtual scene and provide important visual information for the objects' spatial relationship in the scene. This paper presents a GPU based method for all the process of shadow volume algorithm. It can achieve greater shadow performance in ship-handling simulator than previous methods by migrating the silhouette extraction and shadow volume rendering to GPU, and applying a series of techniques for culling, clipping, and simplifying shadow volume geometry. We make a series of optimization for the visual system of the ship-handling simulator such as limit the range of illumination, the alternation of z-pass and z-fail algorithm, using the ultra shadow technology and two sided stencil buffer to accelerate the rendering of shadow


Bamboo is an important grass with wide scale applications in paper industries, medicines, constructions industries. It is potential feedstock for advanced biofuel production due to its favourable characteristics, natural abundance, rapid growth, perennial nature and higher CO2 sequestration. The objective of this study is to understand genetic diversity between the bamboo accessions with respect to geographical origin to correlate molecular information with feedstock characterization and adaptation to abiotic stress. In this study, genomic DNA was extracted from twenty bamboo accessions collected from different regions of India and genetic variations were assessed by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) based molecular marker approach using 8 primers. Maximum genetic distance was observed between Bambusa wamin -Itanagar & B . ventricosa -Durg (0.48221) & minimum genetic distance between Bambusa balcooa -Modasa & Bambusa balcooa -Tripura (0.00787). Bambus a balcooa and Bambusa vulgaris were genetically similar as compared to other accessions. The genetic distance is independent of geographical distance for the bamboo accessions considered in this study. The findings of this study will help to understand the degree of differences between bamboo accessions under the same environmental conditions and to identify the representative accessions that can be used for abiotic stress resistance studies. The information can be explored for screening of closely related bamboo accessions for abiotic stress resistance screening trials. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(2): 330-336 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12587


Purpose - Accounting researchers have frequently borrowed theories and methods from other disciplines. A noteworthy importation movement in recent decades involves the work of French intellectuals and philosophers, not least Pierre Bourdieu. This paper aims to contribute to the sociology of the accounting discipline by examining how Bourdieu's works have been translated into the domain of accounting research. Design/methodology/approach - The investigation is articulated through three modes of analysis. First, it evaluates Bourdieu's recognition in the domain of accounting research, through an examination of the extent to which Bourdieu's writings are cited in accounting articles. Focusing on accounting articles which rely significantly on Bourdieu's thought, the paper then examines which of his publications have been mobilized, and how researchers have articulated his ideas in studying accounting phenomena. The third line of inquiry addresses the extent to which accounting researchers have used Bourdieu's core concepts holistically, that is to say in mobilizing simultaneously the concepts of field, capital and habitus. Findings - Several of the studies which rely significantly on Bourdieu have employed his work holistically, while others have not. Moreover, about half of the studies reviewed in the paper are characterized by a gap between Bourdieu's view of academic research as a support to political and social causes debated in the public arena versus a more dispassionate approach to research. While it is difficult to be conclusive about the implications of these translational gaps, they nonetheless make one aware of some central epistemological issues: Should accounting researchers be more concerned about bringing "the achievements of science and scholarship into public debate"? What are the pros and cons of drawing upon ideas from politically-engaged intellectuals in order to conduct research characterized by political dispassion? Does it make sense to use certain concepts excerpted from a comprehensive system of thought in a piecemeal way? Originality/value - The paper mobilizes and develops the notion of translation in investigating an interdisciplinary movement.


Ecologists are increasingly discovering that ecological processes are made up of components that are multi-scaled in space and time. Some of the most complex of these processes are cross-scale interactions (CSIs), which occur when components interact across scales. When undetected, such interactions may cause errors in extrapolation from one region to another. CSIs, particularly those that include a regional scaled component, have not been systematically investigated or even reported because of the challenges of acquiring data at sufficiently broad spatial extents. We present an approach for quantifying CSIs and apply it to a case study investigating one such interaction, between local and regional scaled land-use drivers of lake phosphorus. Ultimately, our approach for investigating CSIs can serve as a basis for efforts to understand a wide variety of multi-scaled problems such as climate change, land-use/land-cover change, and invasive species.


ABSTRACT Understanding the impact of ocean acidification and warming on communities and ecosystems is a researcher priority. This can only be achieved through a combination of experimental and field approaches that would allow developing a mechanistic understanding of impacts across level of biological organizations. Surprisingly, most published studies are still focusing on single species responses with little consideration for interspecific interactions. In this study, the impacts of a 3 days exposure to three parameters (temperature, pH, and presence/absence of the predator cue of the crab Charybdis japonica) and their interactions on an ecologically important endpoint were evaluated: the byssus production of the mussel Mytilus coruscus. Tested temperatures (25°C and 30°C) were within the present range of natural variability whereas pH (8.1, 7.7, and 7.4) covered present as well as near-future natural variability. As expected, the presence of the crab cue induced an antipredator response in Mytilus coruscus (significant 10% increase in byssus secretion rate, 22% increase in frequency of shed byssus, and 30% longer byssus). Decreased pH but not temperature had a significant negative impact on the same endpoints (up to a 17% decrease in byssus secretion rate, 40% decrease in frequency of shed byssus, and 10% shorter byssus at pH 7.3 as compared with pH 8.1) with no significant interactions between the three tested parameters. In this study, it has been hypothesized that pH and predator cue have different modes of action and lead to conflicting functional responses (escape response versus stronger attachment). Functional consequences for ecosystem dynamics still need to be investigated.


Accurate assessment of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is of paramount importance in decisions regarding treatment strategies. To apply a treat-to-target strategy, a tight assessment of activity is mandatory. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding short (ribonucleic acid) RNAs that have a role in the regulation of genes and protein expression. MiRNAs have altered expression in multiple autoimmune disorders including IBD. The aim of the study was to assess the tissue and circulating miR-31, miR-200b, and miR-200c expression levels as potential biomarkers for intestinal disease activity in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

 The study included 45 patients with histopathologically confirmed CD and active disease (defined as fecal calprotectin (fCal) > 50 ug/g and Short Endoscopic Score of Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) > 3), and 21 subjects as controls for the validation cohort. Demographic and clinical data, biomarkers (fCal), endoscopy data, the expression levels of miR-31, miR-200b, and miR-200c in tissue and serum were assessed (by RT-PCR). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to assess the miR-31, miR-200b, and miR-200c expression levels as potential biomarkers for active CD.

 Mean fCal was 1540 +/- 890 ug/g. Mean SES-CD was 8.9 +/- 4.2. Tissue and circulating miR-31 was significantly correlated with fCal (r = 0.81, r = 0.83, p < 0.01) and with SES-CD (r = 0.82, r = 0.79, p < 0.01). The expression level of miR-31 was significantly upregulated in CD tissue cases compared to the control tissue samples (6.24 ± 1.57 vs. 3.70 ± 1.44; p < 0.01). Similarly, serum miR-31 expression levels in CD patients were significantly upregulated than in control serum samples (-2.07 ± 1.00 vs. 0.78 ± 0.42; p < 0.01). The expression levels of tissue miR-200b and miR-200c were significantly upregulated in CD tissue cases compared to the control tissue samples (-5.25 ± 0.93 vs. -4.69 ± 0.80, p = 0.03 for miR-200b, and -0.86 ± 0.96 vs. 0.39 ± 0.66, p < 0.01 for miR-200c). Similarly, serum miR-200b and miR-200c expression levels in CD patients were significantly upregulated than in the control serum samples (p < 0.05). ROC analysis revealed that the expression levels of the selected miRNAs could help to discriminate active CD patients from healthy controls with very good specificity and sensitivity.

 Tissue and circulating miR-31, miR-200b, and miR-200c reflect disease activity in CD patients and can be used as biomarkers for active CD. Furthermore, circulating miR-31, miR-200b, and miR-200c may be used as non-invasive biomarkers for active CD patients.